Native to central Asia, mice arrived in North America with settlers from Europe and other points. Rats arrived in similar fashion. The rodents spread across North America and are now found in every province and territory in Canada, and every state in the United States. This includes all major population areas.
Mice are considered among the most troublesome and economically damaging rodents in North America. Rats are also a very serious problem, but because the general population does not usually come into regular contact with rats, rats are not perceived to be as significant a problem as mice. However, both mice and rats are very adaptable and able to live in close association with humans; as such, both are termed “commensal” rodents. Mice are much more common in residences and structures than other common rodents, including shrews, voles and squirrels. The focus is on rodents including mice and rats for purposes of the present application, but the present invention is equally relevant and applicable to other pests, including, without limitation birds and other pests. The term “vermin” is often used herein, and is used in a non-limiting sense, being merely representative of the great variety of rodents and other pests that someone of ordinary skill in the art would easily recognize as being proper targets of the trap and method taught herein.
Mice live in and around homes, farms, commercial establishments, in open fields and meadows. With the onset of cold weather each fall, mice move into structures in search of shelter and food. Mice can survive with little or no free water, although they will readily drink if water is available. They can obtain all the water they need from the food they eat. An absence of free water, or food with low moisture content in their environment, may reduce their breeding potential.
Mice have poor eyesight, relying on their hearing and highly developed senses of smell, taste, and touch. Mice breed year round, but when living outdoors, they usually breed in spring and fall. A female may have five to ten litters of four to eight young per year, and the gestation period is 18 to 21 days. A female is sexually mature at six to eight weeks of age. Mouse populations can, therefore, increase rapidly under good conditions, and the average mouse lives one to two years.
Rodents can transmit various diseases to humans, including salmonellosis (food poisoning), rickettsialpox, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis. Mice may carry leptospirosis, rat bite fever, tapeworms, and organisms that may cause ringworm (a fungal disease of the skin) in humans. As well, mice may carry hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (“Hantavirus”), which can be lethal to humans. In addition, rodents can chew through protective covering on wires causing major damage in commercial and industrial complexes. Accordingly, rodents should not be tolerated around schools, restaurants, food storage areas, warehouses, office buildings, dwellings or other areas where humans may come into contact with rodents or the organisms they carry. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations reported that between one-fifth and one-third of the world's total food supply never reaches the table due to losses from rodents.
Damage, to insulation inside walls and attics, quickly occurs when mice reach large populations in dwellings and commercial buildings. They may gnaw electrical wiring and create fire hazards or other malfunctions that are expensive to repair.
Various control methods are currently employed, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Poison baits are commonly employed, but they should never be used when there may be children or other animals present. Further, this method also suffers from the fact that mice usually return to their nest in an inaccessible location prior to death. Even if they do not return to their nest, mice perishing within walls or other inaccessible places within a dwelling or commercial building can cause secondary infestations of damaging insects that feed and breed upon the carcasses. Mice will also hoard or carry food to other locations; such hoarding of food is common, and it may result in amounts of poison bait being moved to places where it goes undetected and may be hazardous to non-target species. Non-toxic methods of rodent control are more effective and considerably more sanitary since rodents captured by these methods can be disposed of properly.
Trapping is one alternative method of controlling mice, but it requires labour, time and handling of any captured mice. One advantage is that it eliminates the problem of odours from decomposing carcasses and secondary infestations that may occur when poisoning is used. It also has the advantage of not relying on inherently hazardous rodenticides, it permits the user to view his or her success, and it allows for easier disposal of the mice. However, the success rate for traps varies widely and the method still requires the physical handling of mice, with all the inherent dangers of the diseases mentioned above being transmitted to humans—and particularly Hantavirus.
So-called “snap traps” are simple and inexpensive; however, the quality and effectiveness varies widely. Some poorly made snap traps will often break when they are triggered, are ineffective due to flaws, or are not sensitive enough to catch small or cautious mice.
An alternative to snap traps are glue boards, which catch mice by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive. When mice attempt to cross the glue board, they get stuck, much the same way that flypaper catches flies. A significant drawback to glue boards is that the mouse is not killed (but will die from starvation and dehydration if not attended) and must be killed and then disposed of. Because the mouse is not killed, many jurisdictions have banned glue boards.
Box traps work on the principle that mice readily enter small holes. The traps then hold the mice by means of one-way doors. More than one mouse may be caught by these traps, but because the mice are only caught and not killed, someone needs to check the traps frequently and release the captured mice. Of course, they will need to be released some distance from the dwelling or commercial building or they will simply re-enter. And, again, all the hazards are present of the mice transmitting the various diseases to the persons handling the trap.
Several styles of electrocution traps have become available in recent years. Most are powered by batteries and produce death to rodents by delivering a high volt-low amperage jolt. These traps potentially offer a quick, easy and less messy means of removing rodents when compared to either snap traps or glue boards. However, their reliability varies greatly and there are reports that some rodents are capable of escaping lethal encounters with some models. All of them presently require someone to physically handle the dead rodents to dispose of them. Again, the possibility of disease being transmitted from the dead rodents is present.
What is needed, therefore, is a trap that is simple and effective, attracting vermin and providing for safe handling of the dead catch.